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Thursday, January 8, 2009

New Year Thoughts

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have posted anything here. After 16 years in the wine business I should remember not to start new projects going into the busiest season, aka OND. In addition to that predictable mayhem, I resigned from my current job - yes even during this economy - to try to get off the treadmill that represents the world of the route salesperson. December brought record snowfall to the Portland area, essentially shutting down the city, cancelling hundreds of flights and even halting much public transportation. Just before Christmas I left for New Orleans for time with family and then Mexico with more family. That helps to explain the lack of time I have had to post reviews, but even more so, I just had no time for wine tasting in order to gather information for posting. We are currently experiencing massive flooding on the coast, in many locations in Washington, and even some close to Portland; twenty miles of I-5 are currently shut down with no detour available because the east-west roads are flooded as well. I read the paper this morning and saw a man walking through his home knee deep in water. It reminded me of Katrina in New Orleans and the disastrous flooding. What does any of this have to do with wine you ask? While it is nice to enjoy properly aged wine, don't wait too long. After cellaring a bottle for years, a certain aura is often attached to said bottle that causes one to wait for a special occasion. Now that we have passed the major holiday season and enter the New Year, I would like to suggest that you can create a special occasion simply by opening a special bottle. Get some simple foods together and invite some friends over, perhaps they'll bring something special as well. Nearly twenty cases of wine I had aging were mostly destroyed by heat. They were in refrigeration cellars, but there was no power for over a month and a half while temperatures hovered around 90 degrees. I foolishly did not even bring one solitary bottle when we evacuated.So many beautiful wines not enjoyed or shared. With the exception of the bizarrely expensive collector only wines, there is nothing special about a bottle of wine until the cork is pulled. Laissez Les Bons Vins Verser...call me first.